Mail-bag catcher.



un. s34,|s|. -Patented oef. 3, i899. f J. enanas. y

' MAIL BAG CATCHER.

(A'ppumion med duly a, 1899.)

'rus wams Putas ca. Puo'raufnn. msnmoun, n. c.

f UNITED STATss PATENT OFFICE.'

JOHN GARBERS, ,or CHAPMAN, NEBRASKA.

SPECIFICATION forming part f Letters zPatnt'nNq. 634,131; dated octobers, 1899.

Application nealruiy 8,1399. sensing.' raamt. (numana `and reception ofthe mail-bags with the least possible wear and tear upon the 'latter andwith the greatest despatch and convenience to the clerks and at AtheSametime to `obviate projecting arms when the apparatus is not in use.

To these ends Athe present kinvention con-v sists in the combination andarrangement of part-s, as will be hereinafter more fully described,shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out c inVthe appended claim, it being understood that changes in the form,proportion, size, and the minor details of construction may be madewithin the scope of the appended claim without departing from the spiritor sacrificingshowing the hinged connection therebetween.

Corresponding parts in the several gures of the drawings are designatedby like characters of reference.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, l designates the standard ofthemail-crane, which is arranged alongside of the railroadtrack and carriesthe apparatus for supporting the mail-bag which is to be transferred tothe postal car of a moving train. Pivoted intermediate of its ends andto the upper end of the standard is a supporting-arm 2, provided at itsouter Vfree end adjacent to the railroad-track with a cross-head 3,which is bowed downwardly in opposite directions from the arm and hasitsopposite ends bent upward, so

as to provide seats 4 for supporting the mailbag which is to betransferred to the postal car. The opposite end of this supporting-armis `provided. with a pendent coiled spring 5,which is connected at itslower end to the rear side of the standard, so as to throw the 'outerend of the arm upward and out of the way after the mail-bag has beentransferred to the postalv car, as shown in Fig. 2. The lowerreceivingarm 6 is connected to the front face of the standard l by meansof a suitable hinge 7, so lthat said arm may be folded downwardalongside of thestandard after receiving the mailbagfroni the postalcar. At the outer free end of this latter arm there is provided across-head S, which is arranged reversely to the upper cross-head 3,being bowed upwardly at opposite sides of the arm'and having its outerextremities bent downwardly, so as to provide seats 9 for holdingl saidarmvin its elevated position to receive a'mail-bag from the postal car.p

4To setthe apparatus for delivering a mailbag to a postal car while inmotion, the arms 2 and d are brought into horizontal position and aVmail-bag 10 is suspended therefrom by means of a large ring ll, which isconnected to themiddle of the bag in any desired manner and embraces theseats d at the respective ends of the cross-heads 3 and S, it beingunderstood that the bag is located upon that side oi' the frame on whichthe train is moving. Thus it will be seen that the bag is suspended fromthe upper cross-head 3 and embraces the lower cross-head 8, so that thetwo Asup*)porting-arms 2 and 6 are held in a substantiallyhorizontalposition in readiness to deliver and receive the maikbags.

The means for transferring the mail-bag from the crane to the postal-carcomprises a catcher-arm 12, which is located substantially parallel tothe car and is connected therewith by means of a transverse rod or bar18, proj ecting laterally outward from the car 14. The connecting-bar iscarried at its inner end by means of a longitudinally-disposedsupportying-bar 15, having its opposite ends journaled at the oppositesides of the car-door and provided With an operating-handle 16, wherebythe catcher-rod l2 may be swung into the door way after receiving themail-bag or when not in use. The rear end of the catcher-rod 12 iskprovided with rearwardly-extending springjaws 17, having their outerfree extremities bowed inwardly, as at 1S, so as to form seats forsupporting the inail-bag to be delivered to the crane. s As clearlyindicated in Fig. 1, the mailbag` 19, which is to be delivered to thecrane, is also provided with a large ring 20, as described for theformer mail-bag, and this ringembraces the seats of the spring-jaws 17,whereby the mail-bag is suspended from the rear end of the catcher-arm.4

In the operation of the device, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, it will beseen that the connecting-arm 13 is of a length to dispose thecatcher-arm 12 intermediate of the crossheads 3 and S, so that said armis adapted to be received within the ring ll, whereby the mail-bag willbe removed from the crossheads when the connecting-bar 13 strikes thering 1l, and the latter will remain upon the arm. The ring` of themail-bag 'to be transferred to the crane receives the adjacent end ofthe lower cross-head S and is removed from the spring-jaws 13 by contactwith the adjacent side of the lower arm (i of the crane and remains uponthe cross-head. Immediately upon the ring 11 being removed from thecrossheads the spring 5 will throw the outer free end of the upper arm 2upwardly and the lower arm G will simultaneously drop downwardly, sothat neither of the arms projects outwardly from the standard when thecrane is not in use. It will of course be understood that the relativedisposition of the bag 19 from the supporting-rod 13 is such that thering 11 is not removed from the cross-heads until said bag has beenengaged with the lower crosshead, so that a safe and positive transferof the bag is insured.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the presentapparatus provides an exceedingly simple and durable mail-bag catcher,the parts being few in number and positively connected together.Furthermore, there are no spring-catches to become worn and broken orimpaired by the effects of the weather, and the arms of the crane areeffectively maintained out of the way when not in use.

What I claim isw In an apparatus of the class described, the combinationwith a crane having upper and lower arms provided at their outer freeends with cross-heads, of a mail-bag ring embracing respective ends ofthe cross-heads, amailbag,` catcher-arm, a supporting-rod carried by apostal car and` spacing the catcher-arm outward from the car, oppositerearwardly-extending spring-jaws connected to the rear endl of thecatcher-arm, and having their rear free extremities bowed inwardly andforming seats, and a mail-bag ring embracing the seats of the springs,substantially as and for the Ypurpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing` as my own I have hereto afiixedmy signature in the presence 0f two witnesses.

JOHN GARBERS.

Witnesses:

SPRAGUE D. Ross, F. W. GARBERS.

